Purpose
by GreenFaeriefly
Summary: Collection of strategic pda drabbles. Message me with ideas for future chapters you'd like to see.
1. Purpose

"Hold on"

"I think it's him!"

"Be cool guys."

They are not cool, they are the epitome of not cool. So Paige squares her shoulders and steps up. "Sylvester, go listen to the band over there. Happy, lose the umbrella and put the headphones on, walk east, look at the shops. Toby...Just duck." As everyone hurries to do as instructed-Toby practically dives behind the car- Walter turns to ask what he should do, but then the apartment door is opening and suddenly Paige is hauling him close and pressing him up against the side of his car. She is also very very close to him.

"Ummm. What are you doing?" She's still very close, and she's running her hand down his arm, lacing their fingers together, and he... is having trouble processing this.

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable."

"Yes, they do." He means to say more but it all gets stuck in his throat when she grabs his tie and pulls him down, pressing her forehead to his, brushing their noses together and looking deep into his eyes, like he's the only thing that matters in the universe. She's smiling and biting her lip and did he mention still very close to him? Like, multiple points of contact, all over.

"Put your arms around me, and at least try to look like I'm not repulsive would you"

"You're not-I still don't-" It's hard to get the words out, one of her hands has gone to the back of his neck and her fingers are currently tangled in the curls at the nap of his neck.

Toby pipes up from the ground "Intimacy wigs people out, ergo, he's less likely to spend time wondering what the hell you're doing outside his apartment if you're heavily engaged with each other."

He finally gets his arms to listen and wraps one around her waist, while bringing their still entwined hands up so he can place a gentle kiss on her palm.

"There you go, glad to see you're back with us. Sorry for freaking you out. Ralph doesn't like sudden physical contact either." She runs her hand down his jaw line and ducks her head, resting against him so she can look over his shoulder at the target. God he can feel her breath on his neck she's so close. Before he can even think about forming a response- it's not that he doesn't like it, she just surprised him is all- she's whispering more words against his skin, and it's all he can do to keep from shivering. "He bought it, moving south. Toby, call Cabe and give him our location." She lifts her hand to her comm. device to contact Happy, "Happy, loop around and try to follow him discreetly, nod your head like you're listening to music, check your phone, pretend to take a call if you think you can fake it." And suddenly she's moving away from him, the look in her eyes from a moment before gone. Reality comes crashing back, they aren't lovers, so enamoured they got lost in each other on the side of the road, they're just teammates.

Walter takes a deep breath, and resets. Put it away, deal with it later. When he checks back in Sylvester is wandering back over and Toby is hanging up from his call with Cabe. "Happy has the target in sight and Cabe is following the gps signal on her phone to her location. Not bad Team Scorpion."

Paige arches a brow and crosses her arms, looking expectantly at Toby and Sylvester. "How's that for purpose hmm?"

It's a clear indicator that she heard their conversation from earlier, and it has the desired effect. Walter inhales sharply and closes his eyes, raising a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, because this, this is not good. Sylvester's eyes go wide and he begins sputtering, he is really not good in high stress situations. Toby-master of the under reaction- rubs the back of his neck and grins bashfully. "Ah, heard that did you?" This prompts the other two to unclench their jaws and start damage control.

"Paige we are so so sorry. We love having you around-"

"Look they didn't mean anything-"

Paige shoots them a disbelieving look that silences their excuses. "First of all, I don't think you guys say things you don't mean. Second, if you don't start listening, like calling Cabe in when I tell you to, this isn't going to work. And I need this to work. I have a kid to look out for, bills to pay, and no other options. I quit a job for this, and as I just proved, I do have something to offer. So you have to stop boxing me out like the cool kids on the playground! Are we clear?"

"Very clear. We won't let you down."

"Hey, we listened! Excellent work with the pda by the way. Very convincing. "

Paige rolls her eyes and rubs a temple, "go wait in the car for Happy to call."

Sylvester complies without question, but Toby lingers, muttering a petulant, "yes mom" under his breath as he goes. Paige watches them get in with a rueful grin before turning back to Walter, who is still leaning against the car. He shoots her a grin and shoves his hands in his pockets-to make sure they don't do something stupid, like reach out to tug her forward.

"So, if you heard that, is it safe to assume you also heard the part about you thriving here? Because I have to say, it feels good to be right again."

She rolls her eyes and gives his shoulder a gentle shove, grinning happily, before turning serious. "I meant it before, I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable."

He shuffles awkwardly and ducks his head. "That's, not exactly the word I would use."

When he gathers the courage to look up she's looking at him with wide eyes and her head slightly tilted. Slowly a small smile works its way on to her face, and he returns it. Before she can respond, Toby is sticking his head out the window, "sorry to break the mood but we have a situation. Apparently some genius in Homeland spooked the guy, he ran into the middle of traffic and got hit by a bus. He's alive but in a coma, so probably not real helpful in the question answering department. Goons. Any info we can grab is gonna to come from his place. However, we have been instructed to wait for Cabe to show up. I vote we get ice cream from the vendor while we wait. Takers?"

Walter clears his throat and takes a step back from Paige, when the hell had they gotten that close again? "Well at least it wasn't our screw up, thanks to Paige. I'd say that earns us some ice cream."

As soon as the words are out of his mouth Toby and Sylvester are launching themselves from the car and towards the vendor. Toby pauses long enough to shout, "Great, Happy took all my cash so you're buying."

Walter and Paige exchange fond, exasperated looks before following after them, hands brushing as they walk next to each other. As he steals a glance at her Walter can't help but grin again. Maybe they aren't _just_ teammates.


	2. Strategic and Joyless

Oh look, this is a thing now... Apparently I have an even greater need for strategic pda than I imagined. This time its the ladies, but there's still a sprinkle of paigexwalter in there. Will there be more? Maybe, probably. Because I am weak. An this show is dangerous.

* * *

><p>Happy grit her teeth at the sharp sting of Paige's elbow digging into her side, "Ow, what?"<p>

"Nothing, sorry, I thought someone was coming around the corner. Continue." The two women were outside some dive bar, an hour before last call. Happy was currently shuffling around the inside of a jazzed up Camaro, wondering why people insisted on doing awful things to wonderful cars.

"Why does this job involve so many B n' Es?"

Happy sighed and tried to be patient, reminding herself that Paige was nervous because she wasn't used to playing look out. The only reason Paige was here instead of Toby was because the idiot got himself, Walter and Sylvester made at the poker table with their target two nights previous. If the guy came out, there would be no saving the situation. With Paige here, there was a chance they could keep from getting their cover blown. "Because laws are limiting and we like to operate at optimal efficiency. More often than not, breaking and entering is the most efficient way to get a job done."

"I am beginning to hate that word. Screw efficiency."

"Better not let Walter hear you say that." Happy smirked and threw a look over her shoulder, glad to see her prediction had been accurate, mentioning their leader's name had reduced the tension in Paige's shoulders by a significant percentage.

"I'd be tarred and feathered - hurry it up, that guy could come back any second." Well, the tension had returned.

"Isn't your purpose on this job to come up with a backup plan if that happens?" Maybe giving Paige something to focus on would calm her down a bit. She wished the boys would hurry up with the comms, then Walter could take over worrying about Paige. He was better at knowing what she needed than Happy was, she didn't like when Paige was uncomfortable and she couldn't help.

"Yes, but only because the guys got caught during their last genius plan, so the suspect knows all their faces. So far the only thing I could come up with is probably going to get me smacked, so let's call it a last resort shall we?"

"Now ladies, no need to get snappy." Finally. She never thought she'd be so glad to hear the idiot's voice.

"Shut it Toby. You guys have visual?"

"Yeah we've got you guys. Wave to the camera Paige."

"I'll pass thanks. Oh no, footsteps. Let's go Happy"

She ignored the insistent tugging on her jacket and kept tightening. "Hang on, I've got the rewiring done but I still need to undo the thing I did to the alarm, if I close the door now it'll go off-"

"Yeah well, you're out of time. Paige, now would be a good time to get on with that backup plan." Walter sounded stressed; Happy knew he wasn't a fan of Paige being out in the field without him. Dude had some overprotective cave-man issues to work out.

Paige sighed in resignation before moving quickly toward Happy, "Please don't hit me for this." Paige twirled her friend around and shut the door, making sure to use a little extra force as she pushed the other woman against the car. The alarm began to blare and Happy had just enough time to see the meathead owner come barreling around the corner before her view was completely obstructed...by Paige's face. Happy registered what was happening 1.3 seconds before Paige's lips crushed against her own. Unlike Walter, it didn't take Happy any time at all to get with the program and put on a show. Their asses were on the line after all.

She heard the boys' reactions from her comm piece:

Sylvester's alarmed "oh dear."

Toby's "Holy god almighty thank you."

And of course, Walter's "well, I guess that was an, efficient solution."

She scoffed and muttered a quiet "idiots" against Paige's lips, which made her giggle. Happy felt it all the way down to her toes.

Paige didn't kiss at all like Happy had expected her to, not that she had spent much time thinking about it-not nearly as much as she was willing to bet Walter had anyway. But Happy had expected her to be all gentle caresses and demure sweetness. This was hard and desperate, and kind of hot if she was going to be completely honest.

They broke apart when they heard a throat being cleared behind them. Paige had her actress face on in a second, all flushed cheeks and fluttering lashes. She tucked her hair behind her ears and covered her mouth with a delicate hand. "Oh my gosh, is this your car?" At meathead's amused nod Paige dropped her head into both her hands and groaned in a good imitation of humiliation. "This is so embarrassing. I am so sorry. It's just, my girlfriend finally decided to tell her parents about us and I just, got a little carried away."

Happy had to duck her head to keep from laughing at the flustered look on the guy's face. Clearly Paige was a breed he wasn't use to dealing with."Oh wow, congrats?"

Paige tittered gleefully and launched into a romantic spiel about their fabricated love story, god how did she even make her voice go that high? Maybe she'd run some experiments with Sylvester when they finally got the hell out of here. "Man, forget the singing, Paige should have gone into acting. Girl's a natural, look at those crocodile tears."

"She does seem to have a firm grasp on eliciting desired emotional responses from targeted individuals."

"I mean, I haven't had to give her a single direction. She's gonna put me out of a job!" Happy shook her head, she hated when they talked in her ear while she couldn't respond.

"Man, you two sure have overcome a lot." Happy grinned, this guy looked all kinds of uncomfortable with Paige's overzealous sharing. It was time to wrap this up and get the hell out.

"Yes but it's so worth it, she's just, my everything you know." Jesus, Paige had to watch where she aimed the doe eyes, those things could be lethal. No wonder Walter was a mess of unprocessed emotions. If that's what being on the opposite end of a faked set felt like, she couldn't imagine being on the end of the real thing. "But that's really no excuse to just, maul her in public like that! God I'm so mortified. Sweetie is there anything we can do to make up for our awful behaviour tonight? Maybe a discount on an oil change at the garage?" God Paige could be a genius sometimes. If they could get him back to the garage they'd get a second batch of the data they needed without pulling another sneak job.

"Oh that's really not nece-"

"Nah don't sweat it man, she won't be able to let it go if we don't do something." She fished around in her pocket, thankful she had a card on her. "Stop by anytime in the next week, gimme an hour's notice and I'll look her over for ya. Fix anything little I find."

The guy was still hesitant, but it was too good an offer to pass up; these old cars weren't cheap, even when it came to little things. Finally he reached out for the card in her outstretched hand. "I mean, if you're sure-"

"God yes, we probably had you thinking someone was trying to carjack you!" How the hell did her eyes go that wide? Paige's ability to over accentuate her features was a

marvel of god damn science.

Meathead chuckled and shot a leer at Paige. "Honestly, there are worse things to walk in on."

And on that note, it was time to get Paige out of here, before Walter did something stupid like charge onto the scene. "Well we had better head out, long drive back to the folk's place and all."

"Yeah, yeah. I should head out too. I'll ah, definitely give you a call. Have a good night ladies."

They watched as he got in the car and started it up, hoping to all hell she had gotten everything cleared up. Paige waved enthusiastically as he pulled away, letting the facade fall as soon as he was out of sight.

"Oh my god. I can't believe that worked."

"Are you kidding me? Paige you could have had him eating out of your hand. Brilliant use of invasion of personal space to set him off kilter, and the way you used the reversal of expected dominance? Genius. You have superb instincts. You could have some real potential as a behaviourist if you got some formal training."

"I think I'll stick to my uh-instincts. Thanks though. Where are you guys?"

"Two blocks down, you better come to us, just in case." Apparently Meathead wasn't the only one thrown off kilter. Walter still sounded out of sorts.

"Yeah and you better hold hands to be on the safe side."

"There it is, I knew you were acting too mature about this."

"C'mon! I mean you two really dedicated to the whole, carnal passion thing and not a hint of hesitation on either end!"

Happy shot Paige a grin and a wink. "Yeah well, it's not like it's the first time." There was a crash and a grunt from the other end of the comms, followed by the sounds of Walter and Sylvester protesting about the mess Toby had made when he fell out of his chair.

Paige arched a questioning brow and Happy shrugged. "He's going to be insufferable about this for weeks, might as well make the most of it."

The other woman sighed and shook her head. "Why do you think it was the last resort? I have to say though, as far as plans go, we have definitely come up with more unpleasant ones." The two women shared a grin, Happy had to admit she was relieved. She'd been worried Paige might be weird about this.

When they finally climbed inside the van, Toby had an ice pack pressed against his forehead but that didn't stop him from shooting them a lascivious grin. "Welcome back ladies. Hopefully we all survive the simmering sexual tension you two brought with you."

A quick death glare from Happy had the doofus throwing his hands up in surrender and retreating to the front of the van, but not before fixing Paige with a devilish smirk. "You know young lady, I'm beginning to think you have a thing for PDA up against cars. That's the second time you've used this tactic. Will you not rest until you have assaulted all of us against some form of vehicle?"

Paige rolled her eyes. "Oh please, it was the most efficient method! That kiss was strategic, nothing more. Not that it was unpleasant! I'm going to stop now."

"I can't help but notice you specified the kiss as strategic, but didn't include the snuggle fest in front of bomber guy's apartment." Man, the shrink was not giving Paige an inch tonight. Apparently spending a couple of hours cooped up in a van while Walter freaked out about Paige being at risk resulted in a low tolerance for their evasive bullshit.

"Uh," she risked glance up at Walter through the mirror before turning to face Toby again "that was also, you know, for the team."

Walter bunched up his shoulders and clenched his jaw. Could the man be more transparent? "Right. It was strategic and joyless."

The mildly affronted look Paige threw him spoke volumes. Awkward silence reigned for the rest of the journey home. As they were piling out of the van Happy decided to twist the knife just one more time tonight. She strode up to Walter, who was gathering gear from the back and leaned against the side, waiting for him to give her his attention. "Can I help you with something Happy?"

"Just wanted to know if you thought I should include a breakdown of Paige's kissing ability in the report. You know, for the sake of thoroughness?" God, she knew he would be pissed but the look on his face was gold.

"You know, I don't think that will be necessary."

"Shame, it would be a very positive evaluation."

The woman in question peaked out of the garage just as Walter started doing a rather accurate impression of a Micropterus salmoides. "I think I left my- Are you okay Walter?"

Happy watched in amusement as the genius picked his jaw up and gave his head a shake. "Uhh, fine. Happy was just - asking about report details. What do you need?"

"Oh, I left my sweater-"

"I already grabbed it, I know you always get cold before a job due to nerves, but then the adrenaline rush makes you warm and you take it off. You never notice until you crash and usually that's after we get hom-back, to the garage. Umm, let's get inside." The grin on Paige's face as she watched Walter retreat past her and into the safety of the garage could power a goddamn city.

Jesus. It was a good thing Paige was unexpectedly dominate in the initiation of physical contact. If it was left up to Walter they'd never move beyond the way they were now. And Happy could not abide by that. "You need to shove that man against another car. Preferably not during a job, and when you are alone... and soon."

She followed Walt inside before Paige could respond, but as she pulled the door open, she heard the other woman begin the quiet chant of, "strategic and joyless. Strategic and joyless."

Those two idiots were hopeless.

* * *

><p>Micropterus salmoides is the scientific name for a large mouth bass. Get it? ...I'll go now. Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought and if you have any ideas for other chapters!<p> 


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